Sandal Resorts International is considering other sites in St. Vincent and the Grenadines for its hotels even as it expands its resort at Buccament Bay, which opened in March 2024.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said on NBC Radio on Wednesday that Adam Stewart, executive chairman at Sandals, intimated this to the CARICOM head of government at their summit in Barbados last week.
“… I didn’t know he was going to intimate it but he intimated that he’s in discussion with the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the further expansion of other Sandals in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” the prime minister said.
“But I don’t want to get ahead of myself with that. Just that he made it known there that we are talking. I wasn’t going to talk about it yet, though people would have seen him, Adam Stewart and Camilo down the Leeward coast checking out different places.”
Camillo Gonsalves, the minister of finance, has posted on Facebook photos that appear to show him and Terence Des Vignes, regional project director of Sandals Resorts International, at the construction site of the Black Sands Resort at Peter’s Hope.
“I was once told that deals are done in conference rooms and on golf courses. I find that I work better on beaches, boats, bush and barefoot. This one might be big…” the finance minister said in a Feb. 23 Facebook post.
Canadian investors PACE Developments broke ground on Black Sands Resort in February 2017 and announced July 2018 as the completion date for the first phase.
At the ground breaking ceremony, the investors told iWitness News that they only had half of the EC$60 million that the resort was expected to cost to construct.
The Gonsalves government sold 36 acres of land in the former agricultural estate to PACE for EC$7 million for the construction of the resort.
As part of the deal, the investor had to construct the resort within a specified time or lose their alien landholder’s permit.
However, no part of the resort has been completed and in September 2023, Minister of Tourism Carlos James told Parliament that the government had given the developers a further three years to do so.
On Wednesday, Gonsalves said Sandals will commence “very shortly” expansion at their resort in Buccament Bay.
“They’re going to spend 20 or $30 million and putting in 30 rooms. Because Sandals, when they put their rooms in and all the additional facilities, they come out to about a million dollars US per room,” Gonsalves said.
“When I say per room, all the other amenities and everything like that, when you average it out. … It’s a big number because they spend nearly 300 million US down there already. Big investment,” the prime minister said.
Correction: This article and photo caption were updated to correct the name and designation of the person who appeared in the photo alongside Finance Minister Gonsalves.
They are getting prime lands at next to nothing. Remember Government paid Vincentian farmers and other land owners $5 per square foot in 2018 and sold the established resort with houses ( sandals changed the roofs and design to their taste) for 40M. Only issue with sandals is there pirate approach to development. They build grogne to keep locals off the Buccament beach. Ames embraced the locals and the beach was accessible yet at no time did you have an overrun of locals on the beach , during Harlequin period of operations. Instead of working with existing tour companies and transfer knowledge to locals , they set up their own tour company. They are like the Taiwanese, limited transfer of knowledge and know how to the local communities; so if they were to leave, the existing communities can’t manage, operate and continue the program with any meaningful level of success.
I’m glad to read about this expansion though we need to understand that SVG will always be a bit player in the regional hospitality industry and that we need to develop other developmental strategies to lower our huge unemployment and underemployment levels, not easy tasks given the paucity of viable options other than additional food production for local, regional, and international markets, itself hampered by the tiny size of most farms and lack of cost-saving mechanization generally.
Has Sandals paid the full balance of money for our land it own now?
News news and more News ?? Now just one question how has this development helped the local community ?? as by my little reckoning, locals are intimidated to even cross over to their local beach fronted by sandals ?? And the beautiful sandals have taken up ?? or makes sure ??? that you as a local are ushered to a small rocky area to swim ?? Now let’s be honest i was one that welcomed progress and development of this our village of Buccament and could see the bigger picture for improvement and investment within the area, but unfortunately the locals are suffering…… Hold on our infrastructure has improved ??? when there’s a power cut only the neighbouring villages loose power, hang on Sandals has its own generator silly me, the internet goes down Sandals cant be affected lets sort that out first leave the villagers for a few days ?? Without pointing fingers like we seem to do and blame the present ( looking for a different word than Government O present administration)??? who have done wonderful things for this country in the past let me just say that, Someone somewhere must know how to fix all of this only the have should have and keep the poor poor ?? Lastly just to be clear yes i was one of those that more than welcomed a brighter Buccament and at last we are on the map, but at what cost ???
Sandals i wish you all the success and expansions to our beautiful SVG, lets just hope our people, i mean the everyday person not the Doctor Dis or Lawyer Dat can experience some of the wealth( Wishful thinking i know)
Sandals’ expansion could be a major economic boost for SVG, but it must be managed carefully to ensure transparency, local benefits, and environmental responsibility. The government should provide clear public communication on agreements with foreign investors and take a stronger stance in reclaiming failed development projects to prevent land speculation. If handled well, this could be a turning point for SVG’s tourism industry—if mishandled, it could reinforce patterns of foreign dominance and missed opportunities for local growth.
Listening to Camillo feels like he’s talking about eating ice cream.
If government officials are negotiating multi-million-dollar resort projects with the same tone as discussing dessert, it raises concerns about seriousness, transparency, and long-term strategic planning.
Decisions like these have huge economic, environmental, and social consequences for SVG. They should be handled with the appropriate level of scrutiny, rather than being presented as if they are just another day at the beach.